Story Created: Apr 27, 2009 at 4:39 PM MDT
Story Updated: Apr 27, 2009 at 4:39 PM MDT
EUGENE, Ore.-- They are called Cimex Lectularius or "Bed Bugs," and they are not just part of a catchy nursery rhyme. They are very real and very thirsty -- for your blood.
"If you sleep on your back, you will actually have lines down your side like a feeding trough," said Joseph Lamm from Mr. Bug Pest Control in Eugene.
The apple seed-sized bug feeds mostly at night. They later leave traces of your blood in cracks and crevices,
"You look for that sputum, basically the last meal before you," Lamm said. "I've been in places where you walk in and there is basically blood all along the cracks where they have been walking."
A key place to look in your home is the edge of your mattress.
"This will be the first place you check when you peel this back," Lamm said. "This will be loaded with eggs." Lamm said.
He said his calls for service on bed bug infestations are up, as did almost a dozen other pest control companies. In previous years, pest control companies could go months without a single call for bed bugs.
It is part of a national trend of the resurgence of the bug. In response, the Environmental Protection Agency held its first ever Bed Bug Summit in Virginia.
"The numbers are getting up so high now that almost everybody has had some personal experience with bed bugs and we certainly have them in all 50 states," bed bug expert Dini Miller said at the summit. "We're seeing them proliferate. If you haven't had bed bugs yourself, you certainly know somebody who has. And people are afraid of them."
The bugs are not necessarily dangerous. Skin reactions vary but are usually similar to a mosquito bite. Just like with lice, even clean homes can get infested by bed bugs.
Harsh chemicals like DDT wiped out the populations years ago. With those chemicals off the market now, Lamm said it is harder than ever to get rid of the bugs.
Lamm said its important to control these infestations quickly. "The longer you wait," he said, "the worse it's going to get and the longer and harder it is going to be to get rid of it."
Services from a pest control company vary from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars depending on the infestation.
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